The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program that provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches, much of which is supplied by commodities surplus, to more than 31 million children each school day. Of course nutritionally balanced is relatively open to interpretation. Many school lunches are high in fat, sugar and salt. This is likely to change though, as new nutrition standards are put into place. These new nutrition standards are set to double the amount of fruits and vegetables and set new requirements for specific vegetables (like the potato which often surfaces in a fried form).

While making school lunches healthier is great for all our nation’s children, the best lunch is still the healthful lunch that is brought from home. Bringing in a healthful lunch from home provides a great foundation for healthy eating and can help your child do better in school; a well fed brain is a powerful tool. Involving your child in the process of packing a healthy lunch is a great way to involve her; an involved child is less likely to chuck or trade that apple or carrot because she understands the importance of healthy eating.